The Remarkables as seen from above

Having seen the Remarkables so many times from the bottom, I wondered how they looked like from above. Therefore I booked a skydive.
...
Joking!
I did book a skydive, but that's because I have been wanting to feel the kick and talking of doing it since last year (come to think of it - I'm already gone for over a year... -ish) so why not? After all, who knows when I'll be back in NZ next. I might be old and broken by then :-).
So I gathered up all my courage and headed straight for the NZone office. The dude there was so good (him with Alex) that they convinced me to go higher: at first I wanted to do 12,000ft, but "why not go to 15,000ft, it's really so worth it." So, again, why not?

I was pretty ok for the rest of the day, but then the next day loomed and I started to go really quiet. I didn't seem to want any breakfast (what if it came out again?) so just settled for a tea and a hairy lemon (for the curious among you - a hairy lemon here is what we call Omnivit ;-)).
Off we went to the NZone office, where we got our first briefing. I was happy to see that there were a lot of other people signing away their life, so it couldn't be too bad, right?
We jumped in the van (by that time I had gone completely mute) and drove to the drop zone, Alex following in the big white truck. The drop zone was a place somewhere between the Remarkables and Lake Wakatipu, so the jump must be amazing for views!

The whole group got split up in 2 groups ("2 planes") and I was to go in the second one. For some reason, though, a girl called Julie couldn't be found, so they asked me if I could go in the first plane. Squeek! But of course I could - once again, why not?
We went into the hangar and received all clothing (jumpsuit, harness, helmet, goggles), all the time followed by Alex with the camera. We got to meet our tandem master; mine was called Greg. To be honest, we didn't really get a lot of explanation as to what to do, except for the fact that you had to dangle your feet out of the plane and hold your body like a banana with your head held high (that's for the camera, folks). After that - go, go, go, to the plane!

We were about 8 in the plane, all equipped with a tandem master and a photographer, so it got pretty crowdy. The plane took off and went higher and higher. The view over the Wakatipu basin was truly amazing, but it was hard to really enjoy it, since you knew you had to jump out in a few minutes.
After a while (when it was already getting very high) the 12,000ft people were getting ready. Suddenly the door opened and hop hop hop, one by one everybody 'left' - or jumped, is more like it.
Dan (the other 15,000ft-er) looked at me as if he wanted to die right there and now. But hey, no turning back ...
After another few minutes, the door opened again, and I felt Greg strapping me to his harness; suddenly  we were crawling forward and even more suddenly, I was dangling about 5km above the ground. *glups*. My photographer asked me if I was ready, and ignoring my "nooooo!" he jumped and a second after that it was our turn.

Oh dear god.

It was the most amazing sensation I have ever had so far. Everything was going so fast, the wind was whacking in my face, I couldn't hear anything, but the views were incredible. Queenstown, Kelvin Heights, The Remarkbles, Lake Wakatipu, ... All the places I love so much, right there below me, and I could just enjoy the ride, everything a big whirl.

After about a minute free fall, Greg released the chute. I felt a big shock and was suddenly just dangling quietly in the air. Time for our few minutes of paragliding, calming down, taking in the landscape, savouring the feeling. Man, that was a ride and a half!

After a few minutes, Greg told me to lift my feet and we would land on our bum. This went smoothly and he released me and released himself from the chute.
Mission accomplished.

I ran to Alex in a complete buzz, a smile from ear to ear, slightly faint, but ever so happy. Pictures were payed for and we went back to Queenstown.
Breakfast, anyone?